Asked in September whether a federal ban on semi-automatic rifles was still on the table, U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico didn’t hedge.

“Absolutely,” he told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert.

It wasn’t a slip. As a state representative, Talarico coauthored a bill to report Texans to the sheriff for buying two guns in five days, coauthored a felony for transferring America’s most popular rifle to adults under 21, voted three times against Constitutional Carry, wrote a bill to let the state deny carry licenses at its discretion, and tried to criminalize open carry in public libraries.

His record isn’t a mystery. It’s written into the bills.

Reported to the Sheriff for Buying Two Guns

The clearest window into Talarico’s thinking is HB 22, a 2023 bill he coauthored.

Under HB 22, a gun store selling one buyer more than one firearm, or more than three detachable magazines, within five consecutive days would have had to report that buyer to the Texas Department of Public Safety before completing the sale. The report would identify the buyer, include a copy of the buyer’s ID, and list what was purchased. Within 24 hours, DPS would forward it to the sheriff of the store’s county and the sheriff of the buyer’s home county. A store that failed to report would face a Class B misdemeanor.

No crime. No accusation. Just a Texan buying two pistols, or a rifle and a shotgun, or four magazines for a weekend at the range, and landing in a file at two sheriff’s offices.

That is a gun owner registry scheme, built one purchase at a time.

A Seven-Year Pattern

HB 22 fits a record that began in Talarico’s first session.

In 2019, he authored HB 3508, which would have changed Texas’ License to Carry law from “shall issue” to “may issue” for both new licenses and renewals. A Texan who met every legal requirement could still be turned down at the government’s discretion.

His HB 3507 would have required a federal background check through a licensed dealer before a Texan could lend a firearm to a friend at a shooting range, unless the friend was a license holder, a peace officer, or a dealer. Hand a neighbor a rifle at the range without the paperwork, and the lender faced a fine of up to $1,500. His HB 3506 would have voided out-of-state carry licenses for anyone who established a domicile in Texas, stripping recognition from license holders the moment they became Texas residents.

Talarico didn’t write those bills alone. According to the New York Post, the legislative aide who helped him craft all three was Ana Lopez, a former leader of the University of Texas “Cocks Not Glocks” movement, which handed out sex toys on campus to mock licensed Texans carrying for self-defense. When Talarico arrived in Austin, he hired a campus-carry protester to help write his gun bills.

That September, he signed a House Democratic Caucus letter to Gov. Greg Abbott demanding red-flag orders, which allow gun confiscation without due process, along with expanded background checks, a ban on the sale of what the letter called “high-capacity magazines,” and limits on openly carrying certain semi-automatic long guns.

In 2021, Talarico voted against Constitutional Carry three times. After it became law, he complained that it lets Texans carry “without training and without a license.”

In 2023, he put his name on more:

• HB 2744 would have made it a state jail felony to sell, rent, lease, or give a semi-automatic rifle above .22 caliber that accepts a detachable magazine to anyone under 21, outside narrow exceptions for peace officers, service members, and veterans. A 20-year-old could vote and serve in the military, but whoever sold or gave him an AR-15 could be charged with a felony. It cleared committee 8-5 and died in Calendars without a floor vote.
• HB 236 would have made it a Class A misdemeanor to sell or give a gun to a friend or neighbor without running a federal background check through a dealer, with an exception only for close family. Universal background checks are the foundation of universal gun registration.
• HB 220 would have widened Texas’ handgun-transfer offenses to cover every firearm.

In 2025, he filed House Bill 5025 to make it a crime for a law-abiding Texan to openly carry a handgun in a public library, even with a License to Carry and the gun secured in a holster. It banned visible handguns on library premises “regardless of whether the handgun is holstered,” with no exception for license holders. It died in committee.

The Gun-Control Lobby Knows Where He Stands

Talarico’s own words go further than his bills.

At a September 2020 candidate forum, he listed his gun-control priorities: universal background checks, “closing the gun show loophole,” a ban on semi-automatic rifles, a ban on standard-capacity magazines, “restricting large firearm purchases,” and “handgun design safety standards,” according to The Reload and the Daily Caller News Foundation, which also reported that he floated “a tiered certification system for gun licensure.”

In May 2023, after a House committee advanced the under-21 rifle bill, he thanked Moms Demand Action and Everytown and called AR-15s “weapons of war.”

In the same NewsNation interview where he said “absolutely,” Vittert asked whether he would support a federal ban on semi-automatic rifles or standard-capacity magazines. “Depending on the details of the legislation, yes,” Talarico said. His campaign website still promises “passing universal background checks.”

The national gun-control movement has noticed. Everytown endorsed him in 2020 in its push for a gun-control majority in the Texas House. In May 2026, GIFFORDS PAC endorsed his Senate campaign, praising his push for “expanded background checks, stronger safe storage requirements and a higher minimum age for semiautomatic weapons purchases” and noting he “has opposed dangerous permitless carry legislation.” It has given $3,500 to his campaign.

On Oct. 13, Michael Bloomberg, founder and chief funder of the Everytown network, gave $2.5 million to Lone Star Rising PAC, the super PAC backing Talarico.

The groups that want to ban America’s most popular rifle are not guessing about James Talarico. They are reading the same record Texans can read.

“James Talarico says he respects the Second Amendment, but his record says otherwise,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights. “You cannot claim to defend the right to keep and bear arms while writing bills that turn licensed Texans into criminals, report gun buyers to the sheriff, and keep a ban on America’s most popular rifle on the table. Talarico has to pick one.”

None of this comes from his opponents. It comes from bills he wrote, bills he signed onto, votes he cast, and answers he gave on camera. The record is his.

Call Rep. Talarico’s Capitol office at (512) 463-0821 and tell him to drop his anti-gun agenda. Then chip in to Texas Gun Rights below to help share this message to gun owners across the state.

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Not sure who your elected officials are? Look them up.

As of 10/19/26:

U.S. Senate
Ken Paxton*

U.S. House
Steve Toth – CD 2*
Jessica Steinmann – CD 8
Mark Teixeira – CD 21
Brandon Herrera – CD 23*
Brandon Gill – CD 26 *
Everett Jackson – CD 30
Jace Yarbrough – CD 32*

Lieutenant Governor
Dan Patrick*

Attorney General
Mayes Middleton*

Comptroller
Don Huffines*

Land Commissioner
Dawn Buckingham*

Agriculture Commissioner
Nate Sheets*

Railroad Commissioner
Bo French*

Court of Criminal Appeals
Thomas Smith

Texas Senate
Bob Hall – SD 2*
Trent Ashby – SD 3
Brett Ligon – SD 4
Leigh Wambsganss – SD 9*
Julie Dahlberg – SD 21
David Cook – SD 22*

Texas House
Chris Spencer – HD 1
Brent Money – HD 2*
Kristen Plaisance – HD 3
Cole Hefner – HD 5*
Brian Harrison – HD 10*
Jessi Cowart – HD 15
AJ Louderback – HD 30*
Katrina Pierson – HD 33*
Teresa Hernandez – HD 42
Alan Schoolcraft – HD 44*
Wes Virdell – HD 53*
Hillary Hickland – HD 55*
Richard Hayes – HD 57*
Helen Kerwin – HD 58*
Mike Olcott – HD 60*
Keresa Richardson – HD 61*
Shelley Luther – HD 62*
Andy Hopper – HD 64*
Mitch Little – HD 65*
George Flint – HD 70*
Carrie Isaac – HD 73*
Humberto Perez – HD 77
Don McLoughlin Jr – HD 80*
Dennis “Goose” Geesaman – HD 85*
Holly Jeffreys – HD 86
David Lowe – HD 91*
Alan Blaylock – HD 93*
Cheryl Bean – HD 94*
John McQueeney – HD 97
Armin Mizani – HD 98*
Will Campbell – HD 109
Stephen Stanley – HD 113
Marc LaHood – HD 121*
Mark Dorazio – HD 122*
Stan Stanart – HD 126*
Tom Butler – HD 128*
Scott Bowen – HD 129*
Theodore Schramm – HD 136

Other Offices:

Denton County
David Wylie – County Commissioner pct 4*

Fannin County
John Tynan – County Judge

Kendall County
Ricky Gleason – County Judge
Andra Wisian – Commissioner Pct 2

Lamar County
Nathan Polsky – Commissioner, Pct 2

Liberty County
James “JD Chandler” – 75th District Court Judge

Smith County
Austin Luce – Commissioner Pct 2

Tarrant County
Tim O’Hare – County Judge
Tony Tinderholt – County Commissioner Pct 2*
Andy Hsu – 324th District Court Judge*
Ricky Rodriguez – Justice of the Peace, Pct 1

Washington County
Kirk Hannath – County Judge

* = TXGR PAC Endorsed

Print version (as of 10/19/26)

Will you help Texas Gun Rights identify MORE pro-gun candidates and EXPOSE those who would undermine your rights protected by the Second Amendment?

What’s happening in Minneapolis is not random chaos. It’s a choreographed effort by the Left.

The media wants Americans to believe the unrest surrounding ICE and CBP operations is spontaneous outrage — a city reacting emotionally to unjustified immigration enforcement actions. That story collapses the moment you look at the evidence.

This so-called “protest” is an organized pressure campaign — manufactured to escalate and exploit.

Investigative reporting from journalists like James O’Keefe, Cam Higby, and Andy Ngo has exposed what the cameras consistently miss: encrypted Signal chats coordinating movements, spotters tracking federal officers in real time, logistics hubs embedded in hotels, and rapid-response agitators deployed across the city and surrounding suburbs.

There are also allegations that high-profile elected officials and activist networks were involved in the organizing efforts.

Unverified reports suggest Alex Pretti may have been active in Signal chats tied to that effort.

Shocking new video released of Pretti — 11 days before he was killed — shows him attacking a vehicle with federal agents, and spitting on them when confronted in the middle of the street.

Agents left him alone after the mob began to descend upon them.

That footage contradicts the “peaceful protester” narrative and raises serious questions about what was really happening on the ground.

That kind of behavior ends one way: escalation.

But the organized infrastructure of “community resistance” that Pretti was a part of exists for one purpose: escalation.

Tony Seruga’s analysis helps explain how that escalation works.

So-called “protesters” in Minneapolis have been using constant, unpredictable noise — whistles, air horns, sudden shouts — to induce stress, fatigue, and hyper-vigilance.

It’s a documented physiological tactic that degrades judgment and increases the likelihood of confrontation.

In this instance, it is designed to exhaust law enforcement, provoke mistakes, and then weaponize the outcome.

When violence occurs, the narrative machine activates. The facts blur. The blame shifts. And the organizers disappear into the background while someone else — often a bystander — pays the price.

In Pretti’s case, he paid the ultimate price. He may not have expected to die — but escalation is exactly what these tactics are built to produce.

Whether one believes Pretti’s shooting was justified or unjustified is beside the point. What matters is the context: a deliberately engineered atmosphere meant to generate conflict and confusion, followed by instant narrative exploitation.

That same confusion is now being weaponized against conservatives.

Republicans are being baited into unforced errors — statements that contradict the Second Amendment and fracture their own base.

Let’s be clear: the Alex Pretti situation is not a gun debate — and Republicans shouldn’t treat it like one.

We wrote a separate article about that here.

And while the streets of Minneapolis burn as part of the orchestrated destabilization efforts,  voters have also become distracted from recent Democrat blunders plaguing Minnesota and the rest of the country such as:

• Years of open-border policies that created a massive enforcement backlog
• Billions in fraud under the highest levels of progressive “leadership” in Minnesota
• A political machine that imports voters while exporting accountability

ICE and CBP didn’t create this mess.

They inherited it.

The manufactured outrage we’re seeing playing out has long been a political tool of the Left.

Disorder drives headlines.

Headlines drive elections.

And elections drive power.

If this unrest carries into the midterms, Democrats don’t need to defend their record on the border, on crime, or on corruption.

They just need chaos loud enough to drown it out.

And any miscues from Republicans on important issues — like the Second Amendment — will leave their base feeling jaded.

Then, a flipped Congress becomes the justification. A “mandate” becomes the excuse.

Their policy goals are no secret: nuke the Senate filibuster, ram through anti-gun legislation, pack the Supreme Court, and erase constitutional roadblocks.

That’s why every concession on the Second Amendment, every hedged statement, every attempt to sound “reasonable” in the middle of disorder helps set the table for their next phase.

This isn’t about one city or one incident. It’s about power, and how chaos is used to seize it.

Americans don’t need to choose sides in a street fight. They need to recognize what’s being done to them.

Because if we keep pretending this is organic outrage instead of organized destabilization, we will keep getting the same result: more chaos, more confusion, and more Americans paying the price.

A new federal funding bill moving through Congress would keep the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) funded at roughly $1.585 billion for FY2026, barely below what it received under Biden.

For context, the ATF’s budget was about $1.618 billion in 2025, meaning the agency is basically being rewarded with the same cash pipeline it used to target law-abiding Americans with Biden-era crackdowns and “rulemaking” schemes.

And here’s the part that should infuriate every gun owner in the country.

House Republicans originally floated funding cuts that would have dropped ATF spending closer to $1.2 billion.

That kind of cut would have forced real consequences. It would have meant fewer agents, fewer raids, fewer “gotcha” prosecutions, and less capacity to treat ordinary gun owners like criminals for paperwork errors and technicalities.

Of course, Texas Gun Rights wants nothing short of abolition, but once the D.C. machine did what it always does, all backbone vanished.

The “cuts” got negotiated away. The pressure got released. The ATF kept its money.

So now, the same agency that spent years acting like Biden’s personal enforcement arm gets funded at near record levels, with few meaningful restrictions on how it can use that money.

In other words, the ATF gets to keep playing politics with a badge.

This Is How “Gun Control” Actually Wins

Anti-Gun policies don’t always come through flashy gun bans in congress.

Sometimes it comes through bureaucracy, budgets, and the quiet surrender of weak-kneed Republicans who talk tough on camera and fold the moment it matters.

You do not need a new gun ban bill when you can fund a weaponized agency to regulate, harass, intimidate, and prosecute gun owners into submission.

That is what this is.

It is the administrative state doing the dirty work that lawmakers pretend they never authorized.

Pro-Gun Lawmakers Are Furious, and They Should Be

Rep. Andrew Clyde and others have been vocal about how pro-gun policy riders and real restrictions were stripped out during negotiations.

Pro-gun groups like Texas Gun Rights, National Association for Gun Rights, and Gun Owners of America are calling this exactly what it is: a betrayal.

And they are right.

Because if Congress will not defund the ATF while it is still operating under the same enforcement culture that attacked gun owners for years, then when exactly are we supposed to believe “change” is coming?

After the next raid? After the next rule? After the next prosecution? After the next tragedy used as an excuse for more power?

This funding bill tells you everything you need to know about Washington.

The ATF has not earned trust. It has earned oversight, restrictions, and budget cuts. Instead, Congress is preparing to keep the money flowing like nothing ever happened.

Gun owners are not paranoid. They are paying attention. And if Republicans cannot even cut funding to a rogue agency that has openly treated the Second Amendment like a loophole, then it is time to stop pretending we are being represented.

That is surrender and it is NOT what Americans voted for when they gave Republicans a trifecta of control in D.C.

Will you help us continue holding squishy Republicans accountable to their pro-gun campaign promises?

In the wake of multiple violent encounters involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, critics who just a few years ago led the charge to defund the police, called January 6 an “insurrection” (when it was a riot at worst), condemned lawful self-defense by citizens like Kyle Rittenhouse, and pushed every new gun restriction they could get their hands on are now openly inciting hostility toward federal agents as if there is a fascist takeover underway.

Talk about political whiplash.

Violence in Minneapolis Has Escalated

The city has already been on edge after an ICE-involved shooting that sparked protests, outrage, and nonstop media pressure.

Federal officials defended the agent’s actions, while local & national Democratic figures used the moment to inflame tensions even further.

Then came another incident that should have ended any illusions about what this has become.

According to federal officials, three illegal aliens from Venezuela were arrested after allegedly beating an ICE agent with a shovel and broom handle during an enforcement operation.

The agent reportedly fired a defensive shot, injuring one suspect, and the attackers were taken into custody.

Yet another “peaceful protest” is another violent attack on a federal officer.

Some Protesters Are Now Calling for Armed Confrontation

As the protests intensify, rhetoric outside an ICE facility in Minneapolis has reportedly crossed a dangerous line.

One protester was quoted saying people should show up armed and “end this,” declaring the “time for peace” was over and insisting the ballot box was not enough.

And it is especially revealing coming from the same political culture that treats law-abiding gun owners like a threat for simply exercising a constitutional right.

Politicians Are Pouring Gasoline on the Fire

Instead of urging calm, some Minnesota politicians appear to be fueling the unrest.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the f— out of Minneapolis,” as if federal law enforcement answers to city hall.

Gov. Tim Walz has leaned into the conflict as well, floating talk of the National Guard and using the unrest to posture against the Trump Administration rather than focusing on the danger of mobs targeting officers.

And Rep. Ilhan Omar has spent years demonizing immigration enforcement, helping cultivate the anti-law and anti-border sentiment now boiling over in the streets.

The Left’s Double Standard Is the Real Story

This moment exposes the left’s selective outrage in plain sight.

They spent years calling both police and conservatives “racist” and “corrupt.”

They celebrate when mobs attack law enforcement.

They spent years pushing gun bans and restrictions on peaceful Americans. Now they suddenly flirt with armed confrontation and pretend they are defenders of liberty.

They called January 6 the end of democracy. Yet now they excuse threats and violence aimed at federal officers enforcing immigration law.

Talk about blatant hypocrisy.

Stoking the Flames for a Radical Agenda

This is not about compassion. It is not about “human rights.” It is not even just about immigration policy anymore.

It is about an ideology that cannot survive without chaos. Now it is encouraging confrontation with federal agents doing the job they were tasked to do.

Americans should see this clearly.

When radicals say they want to defund the police, they mean it. When they push gun bans, they mean it. When they incite violence, they will pretend they were the victims the whole time.

Minneapolis is the proof. Will you help Texas gun rights take on this threat head on by chipping in below?

Across the globe, the struggle between citizens and authoritarian governments is playing out in real time — and Americans would be foolish to treat it like a distant foreign drama.

In Iran, widespread protests have surged across major cities as citizens openly challenge a regime that has ruled through fear, censorship, and brute force.

Reports indicate dozens have been killed in recent days, thousands arrested, and security forces have responded with gunfire and mass crackdowns.

Videos circulating online show crowds chanting “Death to the dictator,” underscoring the intensity of the uprising and the desperation of a population that has had enough.

And in Venezuela, a country once among the wealthiest in Latin America, years of authoritarian consolidation and political repression have shown how quickly a society can collapse when the government becomes unaccountable to the people. Economic devastation, state violence, and political persecution became routine as those in power tightened their grip and crushed dissent.

In both cases, the pattern is unmistakable: when the government has a monopoly on force and citizens are left disarmed and helpless, reclaiming freedom becomes brutally expensive.

The Real Lesson Americans Should Learn

The most sobering truth about tyranny is that it rarely arrives overnight. It comes in stages, and the first stage is almost always the same:

Disarm the people.

Once the population is politically powerless and physically defenseless, resistance becomes nearly impossible. At that point, citizens aren’t negotiating with their government, they’re pleading with it.

That’s exactly why Texas Gun Rights has warned for years that the Second Amendment is not simply about sport, hunting, or tradition. It is about whether ordinary people retain the ability to protect themselves and preserve liberty when government power becomes abusive or lawless.

Freedom Is Easy to Lose and Painful to Regain

Iran’s protesters don’t have a Second Amendment.

They don’t have a codified right to keep and bear arms.

When the state decides to crack down, there is no meaningful deterrent, only the threat of prison, beatings, or death.

And history is clear: when a government is willing to shoot its own people in the streets, it is not a government that fears elections. It is a government that fears resistance.

In Venezuela, the same reality has played out in a different form, where the state, the courts, the media, and enforcement mechanisms were steadily captured and weaponized against political opponents.

Once that power was centralized, the people were left with few options beyond fleeing, suffering, or submitting.

This is the cost Americans must understand:

When you surrender your freedom, you don’t get it back by filing a complaint: you get it back through hardship, and often through blood.

No Compromise Means No Retreat

That is why Texas Gun Rights’ message matters now more than ever:

We must never give a millimeter on the Second Amendment.

Not for “Red Flag” gun confiscation laws. Not for registration schemes. Not for bans dressed up as “reasonable restrictions.”

Not for taxes, permits, waiting periods, or backdoor enforcement traps.

Because every “compromise” becomes the foundation for the next restriction — and the next — until the right becomes a privilege, and the privilege becomes permission.

Iran and Venezuela are not just cautionary tales. They are reminders that governments do not hesitate to seize power when citizens lack the means to stop them.

Americans should not have to learn that lesson the hard way.

Freedom is priceless.

And once you let government take it, the cost to reclaim it is far higher than most people can imagine.

That is why the Second Amendment must remain exactly what it was meant to be: a line in the sand.